Don't let the spinach, beans, mushrooms and quinoa fool you as below this salads healthy surface lies a dirty little secret and that secret is a heart full of flavour, and that flavour is provided by both the bacon and its grease. First I cook the bacon and set it and some of its grease aside. The mushrooms and onions are then slowly cooked in the remaining bacon grease until they are nice and golden brown. After cooking the bacon and caramelizing the mushrooms and onions in the same pan, its bottom is sure to be covered little brown bits that are just full of flavour! It would simply be wrong to let that flavour go to waste so I mix the salad dressing right in the pan and the vinegar in it helps pick up all of that flavour by deglazing the pan. The remaining ingredients of the salad dressing include the reserved bacon grease and some Dijon mustard. The final component of flavour in this salad is a touch of crumbled blue cheese that starts to melt into the salad which is served warm. You don't want to overpower the other flavours in the salad by using a lot of blue cheese but just a bit really enhances the salad and makes it truly special. With this salad you get the best of both worlds with lots of healthy ingreadients and lots of flavour!

A nice, sweet and innocent looking white bean and spinach quinoa salad hiding a dark underside of bacon, onions and mushrooms caramelized in bacon grease and a bacon grease dressing. Naughty and nice never tasted so good!

ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

4 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 cup red onion, sliced

4 ounces mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 small clove garlic, grated

salt and pepper to taste

1 (6 ounce) package baby spinach

1 (19 ounce) can white beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup mild blue cheese, crumbled

directions

Cook the quinoa as directed on the package.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a pan, about 4-6 minutes, and set aside, reserving 2 tablespoons of bacon grease.

Caramelize the onions and mushrooms in the remaining bacon grease, about 20-30 minutes, and set aside.

Add the vinegar to the pan and deglaze it.

Mix in the reserved bacon grease, sugar, mustard, garlic and season with salt and pepper.

Add the spinach and white beans and cook until the spinach wilts, about 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.

My problem with quinoa is that I really, really want to like it... but whenever I make it, I'm totally underwhelmed by the results.I think my luck might finally change with this recipe. I mean, how can anything with bacon and blue cheese and mushrooms possibly be underwhelming, right? Brilliant. :)

Kevin,This looks and sounds delicious! I will definitely have to try the recipe!!

Also, I just wanted to let you know that I've given you a blog award, so feel free to head on over to my blog and check out my latest post. I don't know if you do them, but I wanted you to know how much I like your blog and the things that you post! :-)Have a great Friday evening!

Oh STOP! I can't do blue cheese. How is this fair!? Oh, wait, this means I will simply have to tinker and taste test repeatedly, right?And thank you for shedding light on the damage to my blog yesterday; I thought I'd had a techfail moment. I was never so glad to be a victim ;)

Sssshhhh! You said salad so I am not listening to any comments of "grease" or "naughty" afterwards! I will simply make this salad which, by definition of its name, means it is healthy...and I am therefore entitled to many, many servings...

What a really great combination of ingredients!!! And a great name, too! You had me at "white bean, spinach, quinoa, bacon, carmelized onions, mushrooms, blue cheese, bacon, pan sauce," and "dressing!" I love it all!!!

I do so love how this recipe starts off all healthy and innocent with its beans, quinoa and spinach and then slides into dirtyness with the bacon, and then descends into full-fat evil deliciousness with blue cheese and bacon-pan sauce. Inspirational!

Om nom nom. I made this for dinner tonight and it was very tasty. I wasn't sure what you meant by 'white' beans so I used cannellini beans. And I don't like blue cheese so I used feta. Hope I haven't basterdized your recipe too much.

One problem I have with quinoa is that when I cook it it seems like I've cooked all the liquid out but when I mix in to the other stuff it's still quite soggy. But if I try to cook it longer it starts to stick and burn.

This recipe with quinoa looks really really good. I’m gonna try it really soon as I’m obsessed with quinoa!I also recently wrote an article on the health benefits of quinoa, check it out: http://www.theironyou.com/2011/03/more-on-quinoa.html

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.